Explicit and Implicit Rules for Child Welfare Agency

Welfare Services

Part 1

Discuss how you implemented ethical decision-making skills in clinical situations. How did this situation turn out? What support from your agency did you receive?

The first step was identifying the ethical issue I faced in the clinical situation. It is best to determine if there is a moral issue before deciding on any situation. Based on the identified ethical issues, one can progress with decision-making ensuring they do not violate any ethical codes. The next step was identifying the individuals, groups, and organizations affected by the moral decision. Determining who is impacted by the ethical decision ensures the social worker understands how the decisions affect the individuals, groups, or organizations. The third step identified possible courses of action and potential benefits and risks. One should determine its impact on the client and whether it benefits or poses risks for each action taken. Before implementing their decision, the social worker should consider pertinent ethical theories, codes of ethics, and social work practice principles. They should consult with colleagues if they determine they cannot make a decision they deem ethical. The next step was making the decision and documenting how I arrived at a decision. Documenting allows one to consult their notes or share them with others when an issue arises later. Finally, monitoring and evaluating the decision to ensure there is a follow-up on the decision and establish there are no negative consequences.

The situation turned out okay. The ethical decision-making involved determining if I could use the information I had indirectly acquired regarding a client, and I had no evidence to support the report. The client was lying about their drug use, and I uncovered they were still using drugs from another social worker who shared the information, changing the client’s name and details. However, some similarities made me suspect it was my client. Had I reported the client, their children would have been separated from their mother and the family broken up. The agency supported me by showing me the consequences of reporting the mother’s drug use versus helping her quit. Letting the client know I was aware of her drug use made her change her behavior and mandating occasional drug tests proved effective.

Part 2

Reflecting on the competency-based assessment, describe what information would be included in the report as well as who would serve as supplemental sources of information.

When completing the competency-based assessment report, the practitioner should include information like the diagnosis made, the onset of the condition, the presenting symptoms/behaviors, and likely differential diagnosis (Gray & Zide, 2016). The diagnosis should be in line with the DSM-5 diagnosis for the particular symptoms and behavior presented by the client. Using the DSM-5 ensures there is credible evidence to support the diagnosis, and others can reference the manual to acquaint themselves with the diagnosis. Everyone reading the report must know the diagnosis made is based on the presenting symptoms. Since the client faces legal charges, the practitioner should demonstrate how the diagnosis can impair the client, making them do things they are unaware of or out of their control. The timeframe for the onset of the condition is vital in determining if it is an intellectual development disorder. According to Gray and Zide (2016) including the timeframe demonstrates when the disorder began, and the practitioner would indicate childhood-onset if it started before the client was ten years old or adolescent-onset if symptoms were seen after ten years of age.

The goal is to show when the symptoms were demonstrated and if they did during the developmental period. It is posited that intellectual developmental disorders occur during the development period. Therefore, including the onset period can assist in demonstrating if the client’s development was impaired or not.

The symptoms or behaviors presented by the client are beneficial as they show how a person would behave when they have the disorder. In such a case, the behaviors could be used to show that the client acted or broke the law because of the disorder, and they were not aware they were doing something wrong. The diagnosis symptoms can be compared to those of the client, and a comparison is made to establish if they are similar. The report will have information on how the client or person suffering from the disorder would behave and treat others. The differential diagnosis will offer information on other disorders that could be confused with the one the client suffers from. The report presents the data to demonstrate how it cannot be the differential diagnosis because the client has one different symptom from what is indicated in the DSM-5 manual. It is vital that we do not confuse the diagnosis and including the differential diagnosis gives the reader information to support the initial diagnosis.

Supplemental sources of information would be parents, caregivers, teachers, police officers, and the client. We cannot rely on one source of information if we are to offer a comprehensive report on the assessment. Therefore, we need information from the parents to determine when they first started to note the negative behaviors in their child. Parents can offer information on the child’s upbringing, and we can use that to determine if there was anything that might have impaired their mental development. If the client was in foster care, we need to get information from caregivers who handled the client during their formative years to uncover any vital information to determine or support our diagnosis. Teachers will offer information on the client’s behavior in school and how they interact with other students. School information is vital as it gives an insight into the client’s behavior at home and school, allowing us to determine when the disorder started. Police officers can provide information on the crime committed and the client’s behavior when they committed the crime. Criminal information will assist in establishing if the behaviors are congruent with a person with an intellectual developmental disorder or not. The client’s diagnosis could be correct, but the crime they committed might not be similar or related to their disorder. Therefore, we need to analyze this information when making the assessment report.

Part 3

Identify the most likely diagnosis for Mark and how you came to this conclusion. Identify what additional information you would need to support a specific diagnosis.

The most likely diagnosis for Mark is Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). ODD is characterized by persistent anger, temper tantrums, angry outbursts, and disregard for authority (Burke & Romano-Verthelyi, 2018). The onset of ODD is during childhood or adolescence, and Mark falls within the onset period stipulated in the DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The reason for diagnosing Mark with ODD is that he is extremely stubborn and defiant to authority (parents), and the behaviors have been there since he was a little boy. According to American Psychiatric Association (2013) diagnosis for ODD, the pattern of behavior must have been ongoing beyond normal childhood behavior. Another diagnostic characteristic is the pattern of negative behaviors must last at least six months. Mark meets these two criteria, and he continues to demonstrate negative behaviors mostly at home. To meet the criteria for ODD, Mark displays these symptoms as reported, vindictive, noncompliance, arguing with adults, and annoying others (Eskander, 2020). Mark shows four out of the eight ODD symptoms with the presenting symptoms, making him meet the criteria for a diagnosis (Eskander, 2020).

ODD is found in children with a history of different caregivers, harsh families, inconsistent and neglectful child-rearing practices (Burke & Romano-Verthelyi, 2018). The parents have become increasingly frustrated with Mark’s behavior over time, making them unreceptive and detached. While the parents’ behavior could be after Mark demonstrates the ODD symptoms, their detachment could have exaggerated the symptoms. When a child has an inconsistent upbringing, they tend not to develop fully. The underdevelopment makes them unaware of the impact of their behavior or defiance. With the continued frustration of the parents, Mark continues with his behavior since that is the only thing he knows, and his brain has not fully developed the connections to show him how his behavior is impacting others around him. The developmental challenge will continue to show over time, and Mark can develop secondary mood, anxiety, substance abuse, and impulse control disorder.

With the information provided, we can make the diagnosis of ODD. However, we might need supplemental details like when does Mark become defiant or disobedient? The information on when the behavior occurs can assist us in knowing or understanding why he reacts the way he does. We can formulate a treatment that targets the behavior when it occurs. The parents have noted that Mark’s behavior is evident at home, and there is no report on whether it happens when in school. We need to find out from the teachers if Mark has displayed any defiant or odd behaviors when in school. The information from Mark’s teachers would only support our diagnosis of ODD and help us understand where he demonstrates unruly behavior.

Since he was a child, Mark’s upbringing should be discussed, and the parents should describe how they raised him since he was born. The information will assist in determining if Mark had a normal upbringing and if things were missing during his childhood. The developmental stages of his life are crucial, and we should have information to determine if there are some milestones he missed. The formative years of a child are the first years of their lives, and during this time, the brain develops rapidly. Therefore, if there were anything amiss with Mark’s upbringing, it would result in his intellectual development disorder. The social worker should strategize on how they should uncover this information without making the parents defensive.

We should gather additional information from the client (Mark). Directly obtaining information from the child will assist the therapist in determining why the child behaves the way they do. They can uncover if there was any physical, sexual, or neglect suffered by the child early in life. The information should be gathered without the parents present to allow the child to speak freely.

Part 4

The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980

This federal law requires child protective services (CPS) to make reasonable efforts to ensure children are not removed from their homes (LAW, 1980). The act mandates that reasonable efforts must be made to reunify children with their families. The term used is “reasonable efforts,” which means that parents should be offered valuable resources to enable them to protect their children and provide a stable home environment. Child welfare practice looks at a child’s immediate needs and well-being to determine what is best. The act recognizes the impact of removing or separating children from their parents or home and pushes for the reunification of parents with their children to ensure the parent-child bond is maintained. Placing children in foster care is not the goal of this act, and it reinforces the need for parents to be kept with their children by insisting that parents should be supported in the best possible way so they can make amends in their lives and care for their child or children. The law has a condition that before a State receives federal foster care matching funds, the State must first ensure it has made reasonable efforts to prevent the child’s removal from their home.

The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (AACWA) recognizes that there are cases or times when it is not possible to reunite children with their families, and these children have to be placed in foster homes (Palacios et al., 2019). The act offers an adoption assistance program that encourages the adoption of children from the country’s foster care system. Once a child has entered the foster care system, there should be concerted efforts to have them adopted as fast as possible. The law offers adoption assistance payments that consider the adopting parents’ circumstances. The subsidy provided encourages children’s adoption, reducing the financial obstacles many parents face when trying to adopt a child. The subsidies offer medical assistance, especially beneficial for children with special needs. It was determined that most parents prefer to adopt healthy children who have no special needs since they cannot afford the medical costs. Due to this preference, most special needs children would remain in foster care, moving from one home to another. However, with assistance from the federal government, the cost of care and services obstacle is eliminated, and parents can comfortably care for their children without incurring substantial financial costs.

The AACWA supports the child’s best interests since it first ensures that a child is not removed from their home (LAW, 1980; Palacios et al., 2019). When CPS is handling a case of a child, they first have to try and keep the child with their parents and their home before they place them in foster care. Separating children from their parents can result in developmental disabilities due to the trauma and loss of a parent or primary caregiver. Therefore, the law tries to keep children with their parents and offers support to the parents to change their lives. The support provided to parents empowers them to be better parents and promotes the child’s well-being. The second aspect is that once the child is placed in foster care, federal funds are assigned to the child that assists in the adoption process, making it easy for adopting parents to adopt the child. Before a child is adopted, they are placed in different foster homes, and this lack of permanency could be detrimental to their mental health. The law recognizes the impact of keeping children in foster homes and tries to speed up the adoption process by supporting the adopting parents financially. The support encourages parents to adopt children and give them a permanent home where they can grow and mature safely.

Referring to the 9 core child welfare practices, pick 1 that applies to each part of the DCFS mission. Explain why that particular practice applies to that part of the mission. Support your answers with details to illustrate your point.

Teamwork/ Coordinated Care is the core child welfare practice that applies to each part of the DCFS’ mission. The first mission of the DCFS is to “Protect children who are reported to be abused and neglected and increase their families’ capacity to care for them safely.” Teamwork/ coordinated care applies to this mission since there will be multiple teams assisting the family to overcome or deal with the trauma the child faced. There will be CPS, social workers, therapists, and family members. Using coordinated care ensures holistic care where all the involved parties receive adequate support and goals established can be met. Abused children will need help undergoing therapy, and the family members will need support to understand what has happened to their sibling or child. There is a possibility one person will offer these services. However, the most likely situation is that there will be a multidisciplinary team working to support the family and abused child. The family needs support to understand how to handle the abused child and manage their emotions.